Microsoft: Motorola and Google are trying to 'kill video on the Web'

Microsoft has launched a legal assault against Motorola for requesting unfair patent royalties involving video streaming. Filed with the European Commission, the complaint alleges that Motorola has broken a promise…

Boo Hoo. Finally some one is demanding money from microsoft. This is the deal with tyrants. They all want things for free or dirt cheap but when is time to pay they cry foul. $400 cra p software and they cry it they have to pay 20 out of that. Microsoft steals from all around but yet cries when some one puts the foot down. Karma is knocking time to answer the door. Pay up microsoft and stop stealing others intellectual property and acting all innocent.

Guest2; You think it's Microsoft that would have to pay for this?
That's absurd, obviously it is we, the consumers that get to pay for this bullying.

I'm fully with Microsoft on this one.
Actually I am surprised it has come to this, we covered the new "WebM" format a while ago.
It is set to replace H.264 as it's royalty free.
My big problem with that is that all current hardware is able to offload H.264, but not WebM

So all current systems that have a too weak CPU to do 1080p decode in the CPU will suffer from this.
It will also significantly increase power consumption and system noise.
Because the small ASIC in a GPU that offloads H.264 is very very efficient, using less than 3w of power.
But doing it in a CPU brute force is very very expensive, using about 20 times as much power!
This in effect makes all current hardware "obsolete" and is my big gripe with WebM
Obviously Motorola/Google managed to proove that the industry is unable to play nice.
Remember that Google removed H.264 support from Chrome, and added support for only WebM.
So this is kind of a conflict of interests...

The tables have turned...Google\Motorola are about to rape the F**k out of Apple & Microsoft... Now look who's crying and running to the court because they have to pay ,,, Microsoft should've just played fair from the start and they would be in less Subliminal more convenient position

Patent law has gone too far. "Owning" ideas that are so utterly dependant and built on the good will of countless generations before is greed and stupidity at its worst. All these companies have helped create this delusional sticky web for their own short-sighted gains and now must reap the entanglements they have sewn.

It appears that we have a problem with greed and control. Many companies Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc all want to be the big player and they use every method to do this. They have subverted the patent system to control others and extract as much money and pain from others. This slows progress with the consumer paying more and getting less. This will continue until enough people get upset and complain to their representatives so Government will make new regulations in attempt to control Corporate greed. This only causes it's own set of problems. Alas the game continues...

The tables have turned...Google\Motorola are about to rape the F**k out of Apple & Microsoft... Now look who's crying and running to the court because they have to pay ,,, Microsoft should've just played fair from the start and they would be in less Subliminal more convenient position

Click to expand...

Obviously trolling of the worst quality, especially since Android has continuously failed to dent iPad's sales in any significant way, mainly I'd say it is not the hardware which is condemning them to this end but rather the software it self. Secondly Google has stolen lot more patents from others including Apple and MS as stated earlier, hence, it isn't in the ideal situation for them .......again.

The main problem with Motorola trying to get royalties for these patents is that they (before being bought by Google) agreed with Microsoft, Motorola, Cisco, and other companies not to sue based on standard's essential patents, the only company that refused these agreement was Google.

Now Microsoft admits that they do seek royalties for patents that they haven't "contributed" to industry standards. But Motorola, now Google's Motorola, is breaking this "honor-agreement" and seeking to harm the H.264 video standard that is used on every mobile phone, dvd player, tablet, PCs, etc. without even asking for a fair price.

If Google doesn't like software patents, no one does only big companies, maybe instead of spending $12 billion on Motorola Mobility for its patents, they should better spend that money lobbying in D.C. for patent reform.

Oh boo hoo, someone broke their promise? What is this, a school playground? Considering Microsoft are making money every time a device is sold with Android due to patents, this is just a case of "turn around is fair play". Rather than running to the courts perhaps it's finally time we had software patent reform to put an end to this BS.

If Microsoft wants video and audio to succeed on the web then all they need to do is use formats which are licensed in a manner consistent with the royalty-free licensing already used by all the mark up, styling, image, and protocol formats that make the Web work in the first place.

All you people acting delighted about Microsoft being on the receiving end of patent trolling - you do realize that in the end it is ultimately you, the consumer, who will end up paying for this crap? The companies will just silently raise their profit margins in other areas to maintain their positive income - and these small increases do add up.

Patent laws in their current form badly need a rewrite, they are not being used for what they were originally created and are akin to cancer to the industry development and innovation.

Look who is talking here, Microsoft accuses Google. It is clear that Google provides free service to the whole world, but Microsoft always try to kill Google (all companies) if possible by suing or any other means. Wasn't Microsoft suing Google for Android? If they think that is fair, now they should accept this one also as fair. Google is playing by the same kind of rules by which Microsoft is playing.